One of the common hazards of using a garbage disposal machine is that from time to time flatware, i.e., knives, forks, spoons, and other kitchen utensils are inadvertently dropped into the disposer along with the food scraps. These jam the disposer and are usually mangled by it, sometimes so as not to be usable thereafter. At the very least it is difficult to remove them.
It is relatively easy to spot and remove flatware in the relatively small amount of food scraps dumped into a disposer in the home. However, the problem is much more serious in a restaurant or institution where the quantities are larger and the time less. Several hundred dollars of flatware may be lost in the disposer of a restaurant in a single year.